A PPP project, hailed as a milestone in logistic infrastructure development at the time of launch shows scant growth three years later, costing the Cochin Port trust dearly in the process. PN Venugopalthrows light on all that has gone wrong with it.

27-year-old Ratnamma, a garment factory worker, was forced to deliver a baby on the streets of Bangalore. 20-year-old Gayathri was run over by the bus belonging to the Bangalore garment factory where she worked. Garment workers in Bangalore are caught in an exploitative web, reports
Padmalatha Ravi.

Trade liberalisation and the proliferation of Special Economic Zones are expected to provide livelihood opportunities for thousands. This employment is expected to balance the huge revenue losses, large-scale displacement of farmers and regional development disparities resulting from SEZs. But what are the working conditions that are actually being created in these zones?
M Suchitra reports.

At Cochin's Special Economic Zone, independence is a forgotten ideal. Here, as in other SEZs, the government has long treated native soil as territorial possessions of foreign nations, exempt from taxes, rules and safeguards that apply elsewhere. The only losers are the workers.
P N Venugopal reports that now this charade is being expanded.

A new sop came into effect for net-foreign exchange earning businesses in designated export zones from February 10 -- a 15-year income tax holiday. But are the costs of the revenues foregone worth the claimed benefits of more investment and jobs?
M Suchitra examines the reality and does not find a rosy picture